INFORMATION COMPLIANCE TEAM
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref: 202305/511
28 June 2023
Reply to request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
Your ref
Email of 31 May 2023
_
I would greatly appreciate it if you could release the admission statistics of colleges and
courses related to the 2023 UCAS cycle
For each college and course:
Request
1. Number of applicants
2. Number of interviews
3. Number of offers
Dear Ms Tong,
I write in reply to your email requesting the information detailed above.
The information requested will be included in the annual statistics on undergraduate admissions published in
May 2024, which are part of the University’s Publication Scheme. We are therefore refusing your request/this
part of your request under section 22 of the FOIA. Section 22 provides that information is exempt from disclosure
where there is an intention on the part of the public authority or another body to publish it at a future date, and
where it is reasonable in all the circumstances to maintain the publication schedule.
The exemption in section 22 is a qualified exemption that requires the University to weigh the public interest in
disclosing the information requested, which is presumed from FOIA, against the public interest in maintaining
the exemption.
We recognise that there is a general public interest in the disclosure of information relating to the University’s
admissions process and a more specific interest in progress achieved by the University towards diversifying and
broadening its undergraduate student body. Immediate disclosure of the information would contribute to that
interest. However, the question to be decided is whether the public interest will be better served by disclosing
the information now, or later, in accordance with the publication schedule. Our view is that the public interest
would be better served by adhering to the publication schedule. Disclosing the information in isolation from
other information relating to the 2023 admissions cycle would undermine the purpose of the University’s
publication scheme. This scheme provides for the publication of a wide range of information relating to each
admissions cycle, which presents a more complete and accurate picture than the piecemeal disclosure of
separate items of admissions data.
The information requested will be published on this page:
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/sdma.oxford.university/viz/UniversityofOxford-
AdmissionsStatistics2022ByCourse/Applications
2
INTERNAL REVIEW
If you are dissatisfied with this reply, you may ask the University to review it by e-mailin
g xxx@xxxxx.xx.xx.xx. A request for internal review should be submitted no later than 40 working days from the date of this letter.
THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
If, after the internal review, you are still dissatisfied, you have the right under FOIA to apply to the Information
Commissioner for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in accordance with the FOIA. You
can do this online using the
Information Commissioner’s complaints portal.
Yours sincerely
FOI Oxford
Information Compliance Team
